HATTIESBURG, Mississippi ---
The first time Southern Miss quarterback Chris Campbell took the
practice field for first-year coach Ellis Johnson, it wasn't the new
terminology, new drills or new assistant coaches that bothered him.

It was the silence.

"You
could hear the birds chirping," Campbell said with a laugh. "It was
really weird. But if that's the toughest part of this transition, than I
guess we're doing pretty well."

Former coach Larry Fedora -- who
took the North Carolina job in December -- would crank up rap or rock
music at window-rattling decibel levels during practice, but Johnson put
his foot down on that tradition. The loudest noises you hear these days
are the popping of pads or Johnson's voice offering a harsh critique of
the previous play.

It's one of the few changes for the Golden
Eagles as Johnson navigates through his first set of spring drills. The
Southern Miss football program wasn't broken when he inherited it,
coming off an 11-3 record that included a Conference USA championship
and Hawaii Bowl victory, so the 60-year-old coach isn't doing anything
drastic.

But he is putting his own stamp on the Golden Eagles as they prepare to defend their conference title next fall.

That
doesn't mean an entirely new offense or defense. It does mean a slight
change in philosophy to a more hard-nosed brand of football.

"I
want to be a certain style of offense and a certain style of defense,"
Johnson said "I want a certain temperament. I want to be known for
something as a team. To me, it's going extremely well."

Under
Fedora, the Golden Eagles were known for their wide-open offense and
freewheeling defense. Both sides of the ball were apt to make
spectacular plays, but they were also prone to make spectacular
mistakes.

Johnson would like to lessen that risk-reward ratio,
concentrating on a power running game on offense and fundamental
tackling on defense. But he also doesn't want the Golden Eagles to lose
their fearless edge that made them so tough to beat last season when
they knocked off heavily-favored Houston in the C-USA title game and
finished the season as the nation's 20th-ranked team.

Johnson --
along with new offensive coordinator Rickey Bustle and defensive
coordinator Tommy West -- have been busy this spring trying to mesh their
philosophy with what the Golden Eagles already possess.

Sometimes that means swallowing egos and making the best decision for this set of personnel.

"It's
cute to go up there and draw it on the board," Johnson said. "But if
you've got a bunch of guys and they're not good man-cover guys and you
want to run a man blitz every other play, then that's not very smart. If
you want to throw 60 times a game, but you don't have a guy that's
accomplished enough to do that, then that's not very smart."

The
Southern Miss offense has plenty of personnel returning, including
running back Kendrick Hardy and four of five starting offensive linemen.
But the Golden Eagles will have at least one important change -- someone
must take over for quarterback Austin Davis, who leaves with almost
every school passing record.

Campbell has the inside track to the starting job. The redshirt junior has learned for more than three years behind Davis.

"Austin
was a fabulous quarterback and a great friend," Campbell said. "It's
big shoes to fill. But I've learned a lot about how to prepare in the
film room and how to handle the huddle. Obviously, with a new coaching
staff it makes things a little different, but we've kept a lot of things
the same.

"As the coaches say, we just try to get one percent better every day."

Campbell's
is competing for the job with redshirt freshman Ricky Lloyd and
sophomore Arsenio Favor, though Favor recently suffered a knee injury
and likely won't be cleared for full contact until the fall.

The
defense returns several starters as well, including linebacker Jamie
Collins and cornerback Deron Wilson. The Golden Eagles are still running
a package similar to the 4-2-5 formation that improved the team's
defense last season.

"There's a few changes in terminology, but
defense is defense," Wilson said. "The tempo's still full speed on and
off the field."